In the video Big Thinkers: Judy Willis on the Science of Learning, Dr. Willis discusses the functions of the brain during class time and in learning. She saw that in classes, students were becoming board and realized that the behaviors, such as being distracted, were results due to stress. In the brain, information is received and transferred to the switching station or the amygdala. Stress induced from boredom causes information to be sent to the lower 80% of the brain. The same stress factors are those that come from fear, fear of failing, social fears, ect. Animal and human neuropsychology work the same. The thing that stimulates the most brain function in animals living in the wild are environmental changes. By incorporating inquisitive changes you stimulate all higher functions of the brain to become inquisitive. Then you can lead them into a new subject area and their brain function is remained curious. So the number one fear then that kids have is the fear of making a mistake, or being wrong, in front of others. So Dr. Willis then suggests that you remove the barer that puts them in front of others and allow them to privately make mistakes in which they have no fear. By using integrated technologies such as note pads and personalized white boards they only then have to make that mistake in front of the teacher and not the entirety of the class. Also by using the vastness of the web kids can be better prepare to become better in their critical thinking. Such as in real life preparation one needs to develop their analytical thinking, which in the brain is the last part to develop. Kids can use the internet and computer resources to have an access to this information that can be compared next to each other. And by modeling items such as video game stimulus, one can show kids how their progress has improved in real and immediate time. Using that immediate response as classwork through computers shows students how they have moved along through the material and learning and the incremental levels they still have left to go.
So the number one fear then that kids have is the fear of making a mistake, or being wrong, in front of others. So Dr. Willis then suggests that you remove the barer that puts them in front of others and allow them to privately make mistakes in which they have no fear. By using integrated technologies such as note pads and personalized white boards they only then have to make that mistake in front of the teacher and not the entirety of the class. Also by using the vastness of the web kids can be better prepare to become better in their critical thinking. Such as in real life preparation one needs to develop their analytical thinking, which in the brain is the last part to develop. Kids can use the internet and computer resources to have an access to this information that can be compared next to each other.
And by modeling items such as video game stimulus, one can show kids how their progress has improved in real and immediate time. Using that immediate response as classwork through computers shows students how they have moved along through the material and learning and the incremental levels they still have left to go.